Causes of World War I I think that World War I was the product of longstanding rivalries rather than a poorly managed Balkan crisis because it was these rivalries that led to the Balkan crisis. The Balkan crisis may seem poorly managed because previous crises such as those in Morocco in 1905 and 1911 did not result in war. In the July crisis, Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary). Hungarian Empire) despite having no conclusive evidence. Austria-Hungary asked for German support to "eliminate Serbia as a power factor in the Balkans". Germany agreed, offering its full support to Austria-Hungary to start a war with Serbia, which became known as the "blank check". Austria-Hungary and Germany could not have failed to realize the possibility of Russian intervention and European war, suggesting to me that war was their goal. Austria-Hungary issued an impossible ultimatum to Serbia, which would probably have provoked a war. Serbia was given only 48 hours to respond, so it was forced to think fast, otherwise other countries would mobilize and be ready to attack. Serbia accepted all points of the ultimatum except one. As a result, war was announced. If it had more time, Serbia could have discussed the issue further in a conference. The British Foreign Secretary, Gray, suggested a conference, but this was rejected by Germany and Austria-Hungary, suggesting that they had deliberate war aims during the Balkan crisis, rather than that the Balkan crisis was mismanaged. There was a long-standing rivalry between Austria-Hungary and Russia due to their interests in the Balkans. Russia saw its role as leading and supporting its fellow Slavic peoples in the Balkans. This pan-Slavic concept provided the ideal excuse to interfere in the Balkans and extend Russia's influence towards the eastern Mediterranean. Ideally, Russia wanted to open the Dardenelle Strait to its warships. Austria-Hungary was concerned that this Russian encouragement of nationalism might threaten its borders and inspire nationalism within its own empire. In turn, Germany recognized that, as Austria's closest ally, its fate was tied to that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Austria-Hungary was eager to prevent Russian invasion of the Balkans. This goal could be better achieved by eliminating Serbia, Russia's ally in the Balkans. In 1878, Russia was humiliated at the Congress of Berlin when its proposal for a Greater Bulgarian state was rejected and Austria-Hungary occupied Bosnia to maintain order amid nationalist riots.